1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates broadly to firearms and the reduction of noise, flash and recoil resulting from the discharge of firearms. More specifically, this invention relates to a baffle for use in sound suppressors for firearms.
2. Description of the Related Art
Firearms typically discharge noise and gases into the atmosphere, when fired, which may be harmful or offensive to the shooter and/or to others within the general vicinity. As a result various suppression devices have been devised in order to attempt to solve this problem. These sound suppressor devices may feature baffles that use some form of asymmetry while others may feature the use of baffles that are basically symmetrical. While asymmetrical baffles typically produce high levels of turbulence within the sound suppressor, which aids in producing high levels of sound and flash reduction, asymmetrical baffles may result in some detrimental effects on the accuracy of the host firearm. This particularly applies to center fire rifles, and subsequently there needs to be some degree of symmetry in the center fire rifle suppressor to compensate for the possible detrimental effects on accuracy. This may involve the use of symmetrical baffles with asymmetrical baffles as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,426 (White). While the asymmetrical baffles disclosed by White result in good sound reduction, the baffles themselves are positioned asymmetrically or at an angle less than or greater than ninety degrees to the bore axis of the sound suppressor. This does result in some inefficiencies and problems during the manufacturing process.
Other asymmetrical baffles use some form of asymmetry at the bore without the baffle itself being positioned at an angle to the bore axis. The asymmetry may be in the form of a slanted sidewall as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,588,043 (Finn), beveled diversion passages in 5,164,535 (Leasure), or an elongated gas aperture in 6,575,074 (Gaddini). Practiced art includes the use of a shear cut at the bore of a conical or semi- or quasi-conical baffle, the shear cut being a section of the baffle being cut away at the bore hole, or cuts at the bore of a baffle, such as scallops, recesses, or scoops. The concept behind the use of such asymmetrical surfaces is that the surfaces divert gases away from the bore axis. The asymmetry is usually positioned on the proximal or rear face of the baffle where the gas pressures are higher. The more effective the diversion, and subsequent creation of turbulence due to the diverting gases impinging upon other surfaces within the suppressor, generally the suppressor is more efficient with regards to sound reduction. The problem is that with the asymmetry being on the proximal or rear face of the baffle, this affects the accuracy when used with center fire rifles.
The symmetrical baffle has been used extensively since sound suppressors for firearms first appeared, and the common forms of a symmetrical baffle include the truncated cone or conical baffle, and various disc shaped baffles that may be parabolic, quasi-parabolic or hemispherical, or simply flat. While the performance of the flat symmetrical baffle is usually quite poor, other symmetrical baffles such as those described are much more effective. The baffles disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,576,083 and 4,907,488 (Seberger) and 7,237,467 (Melton) are indicative of the state-of-the-art in symmetrical baffles, and provide significant reduction. Such baffles may have some drawbacks including increased weight over that of asymmetrical baffles.
A major problem with both asymmetrical and symmetrical baffles is that varying the degree of asymmetry or symmetry does not result in significant improvements in sound reduction or increased performance levels within present suppressors. There appears to be so-called “sweet spots” with both types of baffles where each form of baffle provides very good results. Changing these “sweet spots” to gain an advantage such as reduced length or diameter of the suppressor often results in decreased performance levels which is not desirable.